My primary concern with the myriad of lactation designations that are seen
is that the public doesn't know what they are getting. (Which might be true
for nurses as well -- my daughter is often referred to as Dr. Anderson -- she
isn't -- she's a family nurse practitioner). But I digress. Let's stick to
lactation....
The designation, IBCLC, means that I know something about the person: I
know that regardless of her/his background, s/he has been required to get at
least 45 hours of basic lactation education, has had to have at least a modicum
of experience with breastfeeding mothers and babies, and has had to pass a
criterion referenced exam. We will not discuss the difficulty of the exam or
the percentage of people passing it....
I know this about the IBCLC. I know that s/he is required to recertify by
CERPs and then again by exam. I know that s/he is required to follow an
ethical code.
Now lets take any of the other "C" designations -- CBE, CLC, CLE, CBS, CLS
-- whatever...what I like to refer to in our course as the "certified,
justified, sanctified, qualified, bonafide, rarified, and deified lactation lady"
which we will call the CLL for short.
This person has taken a course of some length. Might have been a one day
wonder course, might have been 18 hours, might have been 40 or 45 hours. Might
even have been several months. At the end of the course, she may or may not
have taken an exam, which may or may not have been open book, which she may
or may not have had to pass.
Voila. She is now a CLL. She may have never touch a breastfeeding mother
or baby. She may have never breastfed her own child. She may or may not have
ever even seen a baby latch on, let alone helped a mother with a difficult
time.
Would you trust your daughter-in-law and your grandbaby to the CLL?
Now -- she may be wonderful! She may be a LLLL of 15 years standing who has
helped more mothers than she can count. Or, she may have a degree in basket
weaving with no experience whatsoever. But these two people are both CLLs.
The problem is -- you don't know, and you have no basis for knowing.
This is where it gets terribly confusing to the public. If someone tells me
she is a CLE -- I have no idea what she had to do to attain that. There are
several programs that confer a "CLE" upon completion. Some are longer than
others. Some require a whole lot more work than others.
If I'm confused -- imagine the poor public. As far as the average mom is
concerned, one lactation lady is the same as another. And if she gets poor
care from either a sloppy IBCLC, or a CLL that hasn't a clue as to what she is
doing -- breastfeeding is often down the tubes.
And that is why I don't support end-of-program credentials -- or the IBLCE's
push for a second credential.
But that's a topic for another post -- this one is long enough, and it is
definitely time for me to go read a ditzy novel that has nothing to do with
breastfeeding!!
Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC
_Lactation Education Consultants_
(http://www.lactationeducationconsultants.com/)
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